PULLMAN POLICE DEPARTMENT

2009

ANNUAL REPORT

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS

Ø  Attempted Homicide

Shortly after midnight of March 17 at Providence Court apartments a male was shot with a shotgun upon answering the door of his apartment. The victim survived.  The suspect, Lewis Lawrence, fled but was apprehended in Moscow by Moscow police thanks to a radio broadcast with suspect and suspect vehicle descriptions.  Lawrence was charged and awaits trial in 2010.  The driver of the get-away vehicle, Rylan Wallace, was arrested for rendering criminal assistance.

Ø  Armed Robbery

An armed robbery occurred in the late afternoon on April 8 at the Check into Cash Store, 594 SE Bishop Boulevard.  The suspect fled and was not apprehended in Pullman.  Wenatchee police arrested two suspects who committed an armed robbery with a similar modus operandi and one matched the description of the suspect in Pullman.  After detectives met with Wenatchee police and completed their investigation the case was referred to the Whitman County Prosecutor for criminal charges.  

Ø  Coyote Problem

In the spring Pullman residents began complaining about coyotes in the City.  Coyotes were seen prowling in residential areas of all the hills of Pullman.  Some reports of attacks of domestic animals occurred.  In one instance code enforcement officers determined that a resident was putting food out for coyotes.  In another incident a coyote had a den and a litter in a residential back yard.  Fish and Wildlife officials and Pullman code enforcement officers responded to complaints resulting in the capture of some coyotes, dispersing of coyotes and increased public awareness.  By early summer the problem appeared to have been resolved.

Ø  Swine Flu

In May swine flu was beginning to make an appearance regionally.  The Whitman County Public Health, Staged Pandemic Influenza Plan adopted in 2006 was placed into effect in the fall.  The plan was developed by a committee including Mayor Johnson, Police Chief Weatherly and Fire Chief Wilkins.  By the end of the fall the threat had subsided however in the early fall Pullman had been classified as a national swine flu hotspot. 

Ø  Taxi Ordinance

The issue of taxis operating in Pullman arose upon the implementation of the Itinerant Vendor ordinance.  The determination was made that if a taxi company was not physically located in Pullman, the company fell under the Itinerant Vendor ordinance. 

The Pullman Police Advisory Committee, at the March and April meetings, brought up the issue of taxis in Pullman.  Their concerns were the safety of the vehicles and the backgrounds of the drivers.   At one meeting the issue of taxi driver’s backgrounds and risks to safety arose. 

At the April 21 regular City Council meeting a “discussion” item on the agenda was “Taxicab Licensing”.  The Council discussion ended with a concurrence of the Council to “defer taxicab licensing requirement to the State”.

At several subsequent Police Advisory Committee meetings the issue of taxi cab safety issues arose from the members.  Riley Myklebust is the Associated Students of Washington State University (ASWSU) primary representative on that committee and is an ASWSU Senator.  At the regular City Council meeting of October 20 the Council met with the Associated Students of Washington State University.  Item 6 on the agenda for discussion was “Safety Issues”.  Senator Myklebust brought up the issue of taxi regulations.  There was a focus of the concern on background checks of owners and operators of the taxis. 

At the December 8, 2009 City Council Meeting the Council adopted Ordinance 09-30 requiring taxicab licensing.

Ø  Energy Drink Mixed with Alcohol Issues

At the joint meeting of the Pullman City Council and the Associated Students of Washington State University, on October 20, Chief Weatherly brought up the issue of mixing alcoholic beverages with energy drinks.  At monthly meetings in 2009 of the Mental Health/Substance Abuse Committee, held at the Pullman Regional Hospital and attended by Chief Weatherly, the rising levels of alcohol of intoxicated persons is a major concern.  Persons who were taken to the Hospital for detoxification were showing high blood alcohol levels and high levels of caffeine.  The level of violence was a concern and appears to be related to the mixture of alcohol and caffeine.  Police officers encounter persons who admittedly mix the two substances and note the level of intoxication to be unusually high.  When the bars close, instead of going home and going to sleep, these persons are often up and active, in intoxicated states until 3:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. and have created a higher level of officer activity at those hours.

Ø  Evidence OnQ Bar Coding System

On March 31 the City Council authorized the application of a U.S. Department of Justice grant for a bar code evidence system.  The grant was part of the Federal stimulus act and was in the amount of $20,925.  The grant was awarded to Pullman and the system was in place in the early fall.  All police officers were trained and were utilizing the new system at year’s end.  Significant time savings and audit time savings is a result of this new system.

ACTIVITIES

Ø       Fighting Ordinance Adopted

On April 8, 2008 the City Council adopted ordinance 08-06, the “fighting ordinance”.    Violation of the ordinance is a civil infraction and involves causing, involving or engaging in any fight, brawl or other violent or threatening behavior.  In addition the ordinance prohibits any act which tends to create or incite, or in fact creates or incites, either a violent response and/or an immediate breach of peace.   First offenders are fined $250.  Subsequent offenses require a mandatory court appearance and a minimum $500 fine and a maximum of $1,000.  There were 15 infractions issued in 2008 and 13 issued in 2009.

There are a number of variables that are being used to measure the impact of our effort to control fighting. Those variables are reported assaults, reported disorderly conduct incidents and reported citizen dispute incidents.  Below are the annual numbers from 2000 through 2009:

ASSAULTS

2000        2001        2002        2003        2004        2005        2006        2007        2008    2009

95            97            105          133          115          114          134           134         254        106

DISORDERLY CONDUCT

2000        2001        2002        2003        2004        2005        2006        2007        2008    2009

96            91            125          165          134          174          203           203         137        146

CITIZEN DISPUTES

2000        2001        2002        2003        2004        2005        2006        2007        2008    2009

99            81            86            64            55             68            81            100          81          67

Ø  Business Registration and Rental Registration Ordinances

On August 26, 2008 the City Council approved Ordinance 08-14 requiring commercial businesses to register in Pullman for public safety reasons.  On November 18, 2008 the City Council approved Ordinance 08-19 requiring residential rental properties in Pullman be registered for public safety reasons. The effective dates were to be July 1, 2009; however, the effective date was moved to January 1, 2010 during the May 5 meeting, based on discussions in the City Council goal setting process. 

Ø  Emergency Management

A review, by the City department heads, of the City’s Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) was begun in 2008 and completed in November2009.  On December 7 the revised proposed CEMP was submitted to the Washington State Emergency Management division for review and approval.

Ø  Fireworks Enforcement

A new fireworks ordinance took effect in 2006.  The emphasis on fireworks is education and enforcement.  The Fire and Police departments worked together to provide education in the form of public service announcements and media releases.  Below is the result of the enforcement efforts during the Fourth of July holiday period.

Ø       Open Container in Public Ordinance

Alcohol abuse is directly related to safety issues including assaults, disorderly conduct incidents and citizen dispute incidents.  One problem that was recognized in 2007 was the issue of persons over the age of 21 years carrying open containers of alcohol, particularly on College Hill.  On August 21, 2007 the City Council adopted ordinance 07-18 (City Code Chapter 5.55) prohibiting any person to consume any beer, wine or any other intoxicating liquor, or have in his or her possession any opened containers or receptacles containing any beer, wine or any other intoxicating liquor on any sidewalks, streets or public place within the city or in any vehicle parked or moving on public streets, or at any other place within the city other than a private residence or upon premises licensed for the sale and consumption of beer or liquor or upon premises whereon beer or intoxicating liquor is sold by a license under the laws of the state.  The first violation is a fine of no less than $250 and a second and subsequent violation is no less than $500. 

Below are the annual numbers from August 2007 to the end of the year, 2008 and 2009.

2007 – 11 open container infractions were issued.

2008 – 21 open container infractions were issued.

2009 – 23 open container infractions were issued.

PERSONNEL

Ø       Strategic Staffing Concept

On August 28, 2007 Chief Weatherly presented to the City Council a report entitled Pullman Police department Strategic Staffing Concept.  This report contained references and included Chapters on Studies, Citizen Input and Response Issues, Subjective Employee Input, Variables in Consideration of Police Staffing, Police department Structure and Operation, Turnover of Staffing, Equipment and Supply Considerations for Additional Staffing, Recommended Staffing Priorities and Funding of Priorities. 

The parking enforcement position for down town parking mentioned in the report was approved by the City Council on July 8, 2008 and was classified as a Code Enforcement Officer I.  Gary Labusohr was hired for this position on July 21, 2008. 

The City Council has not acted on other recommendations.  Those recommendations were:

Year 1: Add three or four police officers.  Once one of these additional police officers is trained then assign a police officer from patrol to special operations unit to handle fraud cases.  This creates an addition of two police officers for patrol.  The fourth police officer would be utilized if an agreement for funding for a SRO is reached with the school district.

Year 2:  Add four police officers.  Once these additional police officers have been trained, assign one officer as a traffic enforcement/day shift beat officer for patrol on College Hill. Promote a police officer to sergeant and begin assignment of the patrol administrative sergeant. This creates three additional police officers and one patrol sergeant for patrol for a total of four police officer assigned to patrol from the base year.  Add a civilian training and programs specialist and institute a police cadet/police reserve program.

Year 3:  Add three police officers. Once these additional police officers have been trained, assign one police officer from patrol to special operations unit as a retail business liquor and gambling enforcement officer.  Then assign one officer as a traffic enforcement/night shift officer. Add a civilian crime prevention specialist/investigative assistant.  Test for police lieutenant and at the end of the third year convert the special operations sergeant position to a lieutenant position.

Ø  Commissioned Police Officers

In the first three months of 2009 the North College Hill beat position was left vacant because of staffing shortages.  On April 1 Officer Scott Kirk was appointed to the North College Hill beat and Officer Heroff, who had been covering that beat, was reassigned as the rover.  In July of 2008 Officer Germer had been assigned to the South College Hill beat.  All three beats had officers assigned as April 1.  Those three officers maintained their positions through the end of 2009.

On October 1, Officer Cory George terminated his employment with the City of Pullman.  No replacement had been hired at year’s end.

Ø  Support Services

On May 1, Wendy Casner terminated her employment with the Pullman Police Department. 

On July 1 Police Administrative Assistant Connie Finch retired after 30 years of service with the Police Department.  On July 2, Records Specialist I Elysia Spencer was promoted to the Police Administrative Assistant.

            On September 21 Sally Tomasino was hired to replace Wendy Casner.

On October 20 Emily Brashear was hired to replace Elysia Spencer.

Ø  Professional Reserves

By the end of 2009 Richard Huggins the volunteer “Emergency Management Planner” Greg Wilson, psychologist and Dan Smith, chaplain, were the only persons in the professional reserve program.  These individuals had little active participation in the program in 2008 and 2009.  As was stated in the 2007 and 2008 annual reports, consideration is being given to replacing the professional reserve program with a “Citizens Emergency Response Team”.

In the Pullman Police Department Strategic Staffing Concept (2007) Chief Weatherly addressed the professional reserve program stating:

 The Pullman Police department has a program called “Professional Volunteers”.  While the program has fostered interest from citizens over the years, including police chaplains, in recent years the program has waned.  The professional reserves have helped with projects such as domestic violence follow up, delivery of death messages, assisting with victims of tragic events and volunteer professionals assisting in hostage negotiations.

In addition, discussed in the report were coordination issues.

“If police departments are to maintain and improve their service capabilities police administrators are justified in giving greater attention to the use of civilian specialist personnel as a realistic and economical alternative.”[i]  The use of volunteers, cadets and reserve officers is very important to the community and police department.  Experience in coordinating programs has led to the conclusion that coordination is important and requires focused energy, time and commitment.  Through the years commissioned police officers have performed functions including coordinating citizen academies, coordinating reserve officer training and assignment, coordinating block watch, coordinating ride-a-longs, coordinating professional reserves and general public programs. 

Finally, the report recommends a civilian training and programs specialist.

The individual in this position would also coordinate citizen academies, coordinate a police cadet/reserve officer program, coordinate WSU interns,  a citizen emergency response team (CERT), and special events such as parades and the Lentil festival.  Block watch issues would be placed under Special Operations.  The position is anticipated to provide significant reduction of time commitments by the police operations commander, sergeants and police officers.  In addition continuity and consistency of these functions will show great results.

Ø  Police Advisory Committee

Members of the Police Advisory Committee at the end 2009 were: 

In 2009 there were meetings.  Among items discussed were:

Ø  Diversity Training

Ø  Surveys

Ø  U District

Ø  Police Department Annual Report

Ø  Police Department Core Missions

Ø  JAG Grant

Ø  Taxi Problems

Ø  Taxi Ordinance

Ø  Snow Removal

Ø  Walk-ability

Ø  WSU Police Forums

Ø  Lentil Festival

Ø  Coyote Problem

Ø  College Hill Neighborhood Plan

Ø  Animal Noise

Ø  DUI Blood Draws

Ø  Initiative 1033

Ø  Nixle

Ø  Officer Involved Shooting Incidents

Ø  New Chief Hiring Procedures

CITY COUNCIL GOALS

Below are the 2009 goals that involved some or all police department resolution:

6.      Continue to proactively address College Hill issues and continue to work on the improvement of College Hill.  Adopt a neighborhood plan for College Hill.  Provide reports and make recommendations to the City Council on College Hill code enforcement and other College Hill improvements.

STATUS: The police department has begun aggressively to enforce nuisance ordinances with significant visible compliance through the spring and the fall. The results of the Police Department’s enforcement effort will be addressed in the 2009 annual report.

Whitman Street, Maiden Lane, and Opal Street from Grand Avenue to Colorado Street were repaved; several ADA sidewalk ramps were constructed in conjunction with this project. 2009 was also the third year of doing sidewalk tripper repairs on College Hill. A significant portion of the Sidewalk Infilling project also occurred on College Hill. Lighting improvements jointly identified by the city, ASWSU and Avista have been installed. Tree trimming has been performed in areas where the overgrown tree canopy was obstructing street lights. Plans are being developed to widen the sidewalk on B Street from California Street to Michigan Street.

In January of last year, the Planning Commission entertained a presentation by the College Hill Association regarding various neighborhood matters.  In February, the Planning Commission conducted two stakeholder workshops to discuss College Hill neighborhood issues and potential solutions.  In August, the planning department produced and distributed a draft College Hill Core Neighborhood Plan.  The Planning Commission reviewed this draft plan at seven public meetings in September and October, and recommended approval of the document on October 28.  The City Council conducted a public input session regarding the draft plan on November 5, and adopted the plan on November 17.  Planning staff is currently assembling a schedule for implementation of the plan.

Code enforcement committee meetings were held on June 30, 2009, and January 19, 2010.  Updates on code enforcement and College Hill improvements will continue to be provided at City Council meetings, including the joint meetings with ASWSU.

9.      Be proactive in code enforcement.  Continue to discuss the pros and cons of installing surveillance cameras at selected locations.  Hold a City Council meeting discussion on traffic safety issues including speed limits on selected streets such as Davis Way, red light enforcement, and pedestrian safety when crossing problem intersections.

STATUS: In regard to code enforcement, as was noted in the status of goal #6 above, aggressive enforcement of the nuisance code was pursued on College Hill during both the fall and spring semesters.  On June 30 a staff meeting was held on code enforcement efforts.  On June 30 and July 7 reports were presented to the City Council on fireworks enforcement.  Community Improvement Representative/Parks continue to meet and work with College Hill Association. Dumpsters were placed on all four hills prior to the Annual Spring Cleanup. A weed problem site list has been prepared for letters to be sent in the spring to property owners.  

No discussions have been held on installation of surveillance cameras. Traffic emphasis was begun this summer and will continue into the fall. Pedestrian safety was part of this emphasis. Parks is also working with the Pullman Civic Trust on long-range pedestrian plans and mapping.  A pedestrian flag system has been installed at the intersection of Stadium Way and Lybecker Street, the intersection of Grand and McKenzie, and the intersection of Grand and Blaine.

A primary factor in setting speed limits is the 85^th percentile speed. Speed studies have been performed for certain streets such as Davis Way near Golden Hills Drive and Main Street from the viaduct to Spring Street. Following data analysis and report preparation, the results and recommendations will be presented for consideration.

17.  Revise the effective date of business registration and rental registration and then provide regular updates on registration compliance.

STATUS: Both the business registration and rental registration implementation dates were revised to January 1, 2010. Support Services Manager Reavis worked with State Master Licensing Service on the business registration. Forms for rental registration are on the Police Department Web page. Letters have gone out to all businesses for business registration. Local newspaper ads have been utilized to advertise both business and rental unit registration. Information on rental registration was placed in water bills and newspaper ads.

18.  Explore creating a separate city taxi licensing ordinance.

STATUS: The City Council passed the taxi licensing ordinance on December 8.

20.  Consider input from department heads in exploring options for the federal stimulus packages.

STATUS: The City Council approved a grant request for a bar code evidence system under the stimulus package. The grant was approved and upon implementation, officer time used in processing evidence and property is anticipated to be significantly reduced.

Federal stimulus funding has been pursued on many levels for very worthy projects. The College Hill Arterial Reconstruction project and the purchase of new busses for Transit have been funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. An energy grant has been awarded for improvements to the Pioneer Center and Fire Station No. 2. We have also submitted a TIGGER grant, which is also part of the ARRA program, for four hybrid busses.

ACTIVITY

In 2009 there were 10,321 police calls for service.  Police calls for service include officer-initiated calls, which involve police action with the exception of routine traffic activity and miscellaneous citizen contacts.  There were 2,118 officer case reports (that required specific clearance codes), 335 cases submitted to the prosecutor for charges, 725 physical custody arrests, 368 criminal citations (in lieu of physical custody arrests), and 170 city code violations.

There were 1,280 notices of infractions issued in 2009, a majority being traffic infractions.  In addition, officers issued 6,576 traffic warnings. 

Ø Parking Enforcement Statistics